Picture of the Day
Here is the UOS Explorer in Malta in 2015. This ship is apparently now the GH Explorer and it is still in service working in Trinidad. It was one of a fleet if identical Moss Maritime designed anchor-handlers built in Italy, and owned by Hartmann Offshore. The events in recent years have resulted in many offshore vessels going to the scrap, and many other to have changed ownership, possibly due to the fact that they can be picked up very cheaply. Indeed many years ago i attended a conference where ship wooers indicated that the only time they would make any money from owning a ship would be when it was sold. Now even that option seemed to have been removed.
The is the Xbow platform ship Blue Power which was to become Hermit Power and now after the sale off the Hermitage company ships may become something else. This ship was built in 2013 so it is pretty new. All the company vessels were sold off at bargain prices, but in the end no matter what sort of bargain was achieved people still have to get work for the ships. It has been said by a respected commentator on the offshore industry that investment will increase next year and be back at earlier levels in 2022. Of course this is bound to be likely. The requirement for hydrocarbons has not gone away, it has just been left in the ground for the time being.
Jan Plug, our man out there in Brazilian waters really has an eye for a photo, so here is his image of the Camorim Base in Niteroi. Camorim are a company providing the environment with small ships which carry out a multitude of tasks, acting as tugs and transporting small objects off shore. There don't often feature on these pages because they are small. I usually sent the standard at about 40 metres. If you look closely at this photo there are actually one or two larger vessels, and quite a nice yacht, in amongst the ... I search for a word, maybe Chaos!